Illinois Central Green Diamond Scratchbuild

I have mentioned this train in a few other threads, but now that I have some actual work done on it, I figured I would make a dedicated one for it. But first, some history: (because I love research)

The Green Diamond (the first one, not the E unit train) was constructed by Pullman in 1936. Union Pacific had some kind of stake in the Illinois Central, which is why it looks a little like the UP's own M-10000 from 2 years before. Pullman built the M as well, so that could have something to do with its appearance. The Green Diamond ran from St. Louis to Chicago, arriving at Illinois Central's Central Station near Grant Park (now demolished). It was the last of the fixed consist trains of the 1930's, arguably the most forgotten. If featured a power car with a Winton 1200HP prime mover, a Baggage/RPO, two coaches, and a tavern/observation car, making for a five unit train. In 1947, it was removed from Green Diamond service with the arrival of the E units and transferred to the Miss-Lou. It was removed from service and scrapped in 1950. Some time in its career, it was sent to the shop and modified (I'm assuming in 1947). As built, there was no front coupler. I have some pictures of it with a slot in the front to add one, so that probably happened in the shop. I am unsure about interior modifications. Once it dropped the 'Green Diamond' name, the trainset fell into disrepair. There are photos with a huge dent in the front grille and sheet metal patched over damage to the pilot.

I am going to build the 'as built' version because I don't like the coupler on the front. I am debating doing a second one as a post-1947 'modified version'. I have drawings from the Pullman Volumes, Model Railroader, and ones that I drew myself to mark where the rivets are located (there are a lot of them). This is the most extensive scratchbuilding project I have attempted, but if I look at it one car at a time, it shouldn't be too bad.
As a side note, Model Railroader, in their article about the Green Diamond, says that it is out of most modeler's skill sets. And with that, I present a Pandora's Box of a project.

 

Nice choice. Good luck with it. It is indeed among the most overlooked of the early streamliners, along with the Rebel and the Comet.

The Green Diamond was about twice as long as the early Zephyrs, but was originally built with the same eight cylinder, 600 horse version of the 201-A Winton/EMC prime mover. It was totally inadequate, and replaced by a V-16 before the train entered service. A similar thing happened to the UP M-10001, which was a very similar train in other ways too. I'd be interested to see a comparison of the two.

The Alton was controlled by the B&O at the time, and the competition from that train led the B&O to give the trainset from the original diesel powered Royal Blue to the road for service on the Chicago-St. Louis Abraham Lincoln. That was a hotly competitive route. The Wabash eventually assigned eight domes (four domes per trainset) to it.

 

I was thinking about doing the Rebel too, but I couldn’t find any plans of it. There is even less out there about it than the Diamond (or I can’t find it).

 

Here is coach 124. It goes between 123 and the observation car. I still need to order some .005” styrene to make the window gaskets and rivet battens. The seam between the side and the roof will be covered by a batten, so I am not too worried about the gap on the corner. As of now, the roof is removable, held on by the screws on the end of the car, as well as slots the connect the sub-frames together. I built the car as a skeleton core, with ribs running along the length of the roof and floor. (You can see how the roof works on the baggage car in the background.) The sides have a strip above and below the windows, with support behind the large millions between the paired windows. The outside skin is then glued over it. I was debating between a removable floor or a roof. If I glued the floor, I would get a right angle and some more rigidity. Plus, there would be nowhere for me to hide the seam if the floor came off. The rectange cut out above the closer truck is for an AC vent. I am thinking about using Plano etched sheet for that. The car diaphragms are going to be the next big problem.

 

Probably won’t be anything major for a while. With school starting up and the last few weeks my summer job before we close for the winter, there hasn’t been much time for trains. I am cutting out windows for the next coach, but I haven’t even started the core. I need the windows to be cut before, so I can lay out the sub-sides and make sure they line up and don’t cover any windows.

 

My problem with depressed center cars, especially modern ones, is that buckeye trucks with roller bearings are next to non-existent. I would also need a set of plans and decals to make one. I was looking at doing some of the DODX flats for my Roco tanks, but the trucks are still a problem.

 

Happy Easter everybody. I have another update on this project. The last post I made last year is where I halted the project, but since I am posting here again, you can guess that the Green Diamond is back in action. The two cars have been sitting on my desk since then, as a constant reminder for this to get back on the job. With the purchase of The Official Pullman-Standard Library: Volume 12 Illinois Central and a reading of Illinois Central Streamliners 1936-1946 by Paul Somers, I have actual good drawings and photos to use, so I think this 3rd attempt will be The One.

I bought a set of D&G Models trucks for this, and of course the photo caption I referenced was wrong, so I have been scratchbuilding the trucks these last few weeks because the D&G trucks are incorrect. I am only partially done with the trucks, but I thought I was far enough along to show what they look like. There will be four of these in total, but here are two, showing the top and bottom.

The two wide V-shaped parts on the ends of the bolster support the corners of the two cars and act as roll dampers/equalizers over the articulated joint between them. On the underside you can see the leaf springs and the inside swing hanger assembly. The cylinders cut at an angle next to the axle bearing will hold coil springs for the independent suspension, like on 43R trucks.
There is still a lot of work to do. When I get the swing hangers done on the other two trucks, I will start on all the brake rigging. The last truck under the observation car has a different bolster since there is no articulation at the end, so I need to figure that one out too. I don’t know why the photo looks over-exposed. It looks bad with all of that light reflecting off the white styrene, but whatever. It will have to do.

 

Can't wait for the next update

 

I am working on the ‘Napoleon Hat’ bearings and having a ton of problems with them. I’ve spent all day building a set and then not liking the geometry and doing another. I finally got one that looks alright. They still might be a little too narrow, but I can’t move the spring pockets anymore, and they look alright, so I will keep them. The springs on either side of the roller bearing are dummies; the trucks are rigid. Only three more to go.

 

Wow

 

The trucks are almost done. I ran out of parts, so some of the trucks need brake cylinders, and all of them still need the piston that the cylinders attach to. You can see the brake shoes on this almost-completed truck: these were the big additions from the previous photo.
The trucks have actually been in this state for a while now. I started on a new core for a replacement IC 124, which is why there hasn’t been an update in a while. Back up at the top of this page is the first scratchbuild attempt, the first car 124. I had problems with the underbody curve warping, which is what prompted me to start over. The sides are squeezed in slightly, and the bottom bowed out. Now the side profile looks like one of those whale-belly tank cars. This new core has a revised chord profile and will utilize thinner styrene for the sides to make it easier to bend around the car. I think the previous car tried to straighten itself out as it dried, resulting in the bad shape.

The new core has a better center sill, since new photos in the Volume 12 showed what it looked like. The first one had a bolster/articulation joint, but it was minimal. The notches cut on the strip above (the bottom on this photo) the windows will be for locking tabs on the roof. The first car had a channel glued behind the strip for the roof to fit into, so integrating the tabs into the first strip will give a bit more space inside. I have some interior photos, so I will try to do the indirect lighting the prototype had. The more available roof space the better.

The floor is still in progress. It needs more strips to hold the skin rigid.

This is a side-by-side of the new and old car 124. I might change up the shims at the truck/articulation pin still. They look a little crude. Other than that, what you see is what you get right now.

 

I have car 124 basically done. It still needs the window trim and some smaller details, like door handrails and the AC unit grill. I’ll put the window trim and rivet decals on when all the cars are done. The plastic cement caused some pitting, especially where the side starts to curve under the car, so I will have to put some filler in them. Next up is car 123, another coach. The only external difference between the two is window and door placement. Instead of the restrooms being by the vestibule like on 124, they are on the opposite end of the car.

 

that's coming along nicely

 

This is replacing a duplicate post, so I’m showing off the roof. The original roof is held place with all those beams. The edges are pretty rough, and there are no bulkheads around the restrooms and AC cabinets. The new roof was made by wrapping it over PVC pipes and pouring boiling water over it to mold the curve into the sheet. Now it is self supporting. The only thing on the ceiling now is the indirect lighting channel, which is prototypical for the car. The bulkheads meet up with corresponding ones on the rest of the car, instead of having them non-existent above window level as the original was. Redoing these cars allowed me to treat the first as experimental. I was afraid to sacrifice structural strength for a prototypical interior, so the original cars have the extremely chunky roof and a floor that is too high, among other things. With the newer cars, I have found ways to have an interior and have everything stay square.

 

I haven't done an update in a few months, so I will show what has been going on as of late: Nothing in the styrene world. Once I got my Shapeways shop up, I decided that I could do an actual high quality 3D print of the Green Diamond, so I have been doing work with Autodesk Inventor. It is a flat kit, so the sides, roof, and floor are separate. I will have to see if the flat kit or one piece shells are cheaper, but that is easy to change. Here is a render of the assembled power car:
The front grill will be etched sheet as well as the radiator vent on the roof (on top of the roof extension) I was trying to balance surface detail with sandability. I want this to be smooth, so I kept details like rivets out of the design because I knew I would have to sand them away anyways. My initial idea was to just print a window gasket sprue to glue on the styrene cars, but I figured I could do the entire train and not have to deal with scratchbuilding the really hard parts like the observation end or the locomotive nose. This will be super expensive, but considering that it is a five car train, the cost makes sense.